IVA

Swedish artist IVA kept an open mind at a chance meeting and the result? This gorgeous song, “All That We Are,” from her upcoming album LEAP out on July 10.

This uplifting song floats on a steady but light beat and a pleasing piano accompaniment. The message is truly positive, urging all to reach their full potential and to become “All That We Are.” The soaring chorus is skillfully delivered by the supremely talented IVA, whose voice suits the message to a T.

IVA shares, “This song came to light after a chance meeting. I went to the park in Stockholm and for some reason decided to wear all white. When I arrived, there was a man there also dressed all in white with a sign saying ‘Free Healings.’ So I accepted. Afterwards he said that he was a musician and working on a song he wanted me to hear. That song was “All That We Are,” that he and a friend had been composing. I helped him with the rest of the process that led us to this song today."

IVA, a trained opera singer, has an impressive educational background. A student of The Julliard School and graduate of The Manhattan School of Music as well as Princeton, IVA began to play New York clubs and Off-Broadway venues before moving to Sweden thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship for performing artists. It was in Sweden where IVA embraced her operatic side and sung with the Royal Opera of Stockholm.
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IVA, who is Swedish-American by birth, wrote and released two pop records in Sweden, the second with Universal. Her U.S. debut album, LEAP, however, was compiled after her years abroad, writing and performing music. Thanks to an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien she caught the ear of Band Leader Max Weinberg. Weinberg was so taken by her voice and she was invited to return to the show multiple times as a singer and actress. It is also what inspired IVA to LEAP from opera to pop.

While working on LEAP, IVA found herself opening for respected female artists, Paula Cole & Kat Edmonson, in addition to performing on Grammy winner Emile Haynie’s album, We Fall. LEAP was produced by Philly’s Tim Sonnefeld (Usher, Amos Lee). - Guitar World

The 2015 Swedish American of the Year was presented today at the Swedish Migration Center in Karlstad. She is the singer Emily Tepe (IVA) from Wilmington, Delaware, who won the award because of the unusual career she has created in which she both sings opera and pop music.

Emily Tepe's ancestors Peter Larsson Cook and Margaret Lom emigrated in the mid-1600s to America, and then traveled with the legendary ship Kalmar Nyckel. The couple were the first to be married in New Sweden colony.

Emily Tepe carefully nurtured her Swedish heritage and learned to speak Swedish when she was studying music in Sweden. She also had a role in Sven-David Sandström's opera Beseba when it was presented at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 2008.

But despite the major investment in the opera she likes best to sing pop, and that's where she is now putting her focus. She also writes her own music and has released several albums under the stage name IVA.

This year's Swedish-American was appointed by the Swedish-American organization the Vasa Order of America. Emily Tepe will receive the award at the Sweden-America Day in Filipstad on Saturday, among other things, for her commitment to Swedish traditions in the United States. - Svt.se (Sweden)

IVA is featured as part of photographer David Norbut's project "Portrait of a Song" - Huffington Post

“Iva’s voice has a haunting, soulful, seductive quality…she is one of those people who seem to have everything…possessed with a stunning combination of beauty, brains and talent”
by Len Lear

Emily Samson Tepe, who goes by the stage name Iva, is one of those people who seem to have everything. Possessed with a stunning combination of beauty, brains and talent (when asked her age, she replied, “I’m as young as the universe; 37 in human years.”), Iva went to the Juilliard School of Music in New York, “the Harvard of music schools,” and then graduated from Princeton University as a pre-med student. She passed up a potential career in medicine (she wanted to be a doctor for vocalists), however, to pursue a career as an opera singer. (“Also, Organic Chemistry just about killed me.”)

Thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship for Performing Artists, Iva moved to Sweden, where she soon found herself singing with the Royal Opera of Stockholm. (Her ethnic heritage is Swedish.) But Iva made a sharp turn from opera to pop music, releasing two pop records in Sweden, the second for Universal Records.

Why did Iva switch from opera to pop? “When I was studying at Juilliard,” she told us last week, “I was invited to sing on the Conan O’Brien show as part of a comedy sketch. Max Weinberg (Conan’s band leader as well as the drummer with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band) liked my voice and invited me back.

“This led to me eventually meeting a producer at the Conan Christmas party who had some tracks he wanted me to hear. I went over and tried putting vocals and lyrics on a few, and it just clicked. Then I started writing more and more with popular songwriters, as well as on my own, and I realized I really had something to say. That prompted me to devote more time to developing who I was as an artist.”

Iva has performed many times in the Delaware Valley such as at the Barnes Museum, Old Swedes Church, The Delaware River Waterfront, World Cafe Live, Doc Watson’s in Exton and Burlap and Bean Coffeehouse in Newtown Square. A Kickstarter-funded mini-album, “Leap,” that she recorded was officially released last month and has received airplay on WXPN in Philly, WSTM-FM in Wilmington and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s “Under Currents,” among others.

Iva’s voice has a haunting, soulful, seductive quality, despite the fact that she was turned down when she auditioned for “The Voice,” the most watched singing competition show on TV. Billboard Magazine has commented on her versatility, touting her as an artist to watch who was “doubling up in Sweden” between opera and pop. The Tri-State Indie said about her, “Keep your eyes open for this remarkable crossover talent . . . she’s the real thing.”

Iva, who took her stage name from a voice teacher she had in Sweden, was given a remarkably prestigious award on July 13 in Sweden. She was named “Swedish American of the Year.” Recipients of the “Swedish American of the Year” award are either Swedish or American by birth, and have made significant contributions to the relationship between the two countries.

Past honorees, including iconic astronaut Buzz Aldrin and movie star Ann Margret, have been honored with a golden plaque, diploma and their name added to the commemorative Swedish American of the Year tablet, kept in the city of Växjö. “Iva’s Swedish heritage can be traced back to her hometown in Philly,” we were told.

The genesis of the award was a cover article in “Sweden in America” magazine last December. Tommy Hellstrom, the journalist who wrote the article, nominated Iva for the “Swedish American of the Year” award.

“A little while later I was told I’d been given the award, which was a real lift,” said Iva. “I was surprised to have been given such an honor … As everyone knows, our work is not always easy, and when someone recognizes what you are doing, it makes it all worth it.”

Iva, who also plays the piano, has considered moving to Sweden permanently, but she said she would miss her family and friends too much. She goes there as often as possible, however. She has been back there twice this summer, and she also toured Poland and Germany in June, singing classical music in spectacular castles and cathedrals in all three countries.

When asked what living person she would most like to meet and have a conversation with, she replied, “There are too many to count, but I would love to meet David Bowie and talk to him about his recording process from the ’70s, maybe even write a few songs with him. He is a genius.” - Chestnut Hill Local

by Hazel David
The Stockholm-based vocalist Emily Samson Tepe had several busy months, juggling the demands of a pop career with those of an opera singer. The Delaware-born former Juilliard student was prepping her second pop album under the name IVA while simultaneously preparing for a role in composed Sven David Sandström’s new opera “Batseba,” which premiered Dec. 13 in Stockholm and close to March 5.

“I started singing classically when I was 9,” the 31-year-old says, “but I always had a pop-style voice.” While in the early stages of a classical career in the United States, a chance meeting with the casting director of NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” led to her performing opera on the show in 2002. After several additional appearances, Tepe moved to her family’s homeland of Sweden to study classical music while developing her pop career as IVA.

The U.S./French production house Vurse issued the digital-only debut album “IVA” in 2006, but despite press comparisons to Madonna and Enya, Tepe was dissatisfied with the results on what she now refers to as “a demo.” Her new album “IVAlution” is, she ways, “how I want to be felt and seen. I wanted to bring an opera-style voice to pop music.” It will be released April 22 in Scandinavia on IVA Records; international deals are being finalized.

Booked by Enma Music, Tepe is self-managed and handles her own publishing - as if a double career wasn’t enough, she’s also currently featured in a Swedish TV commercial for Bon Aqua mineral water. - Billboard

“Keep you eyes open for this remarkable crossover talent...she's the real thing.”

Iva, a formally trained opera singer, has recently returned to the States after living for
four years in Stockholm and performing in the Royal Opera of her adopted country. Her
return comes on the heels of her success in Sweden including signing her label over to
Universal and releasing her new CD “Ivolution” to nationwide audiences.
Her performance at The Flash with her band was a joy to see and hear. She has a voice
that is full and rich with a range that’s rare in the pop music world. Her stage training
is evident as she performs her own songs to her own arrangements. Her songs run the full
spectrum of happy, sad, lost and regained romance.
Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, this local talent is definitely one to watch and
liston to. Keep you eyes open for this remarkable crossover talent. See Iva, her pop
persona in venues like The Flash and her opera persona, Emily Sampson Tepe, at larger
venues like OperaDelaware. Her next gig is at The Queen in Wilmington on April 1. No April Fools’ joke here, she’s the real thing. Catch her show if you can. - Tri State Indie

“Keep her name in mind, for both those who listen to [classical music] and those who listen to pop music. IVA pursues both genres successfully.” - Tommy Hellstrom - Sweden in American Magazine

“It’s not unusual for musical artists to reinvent themselves to adapt to the ever-changing trends of popular music. It’s quite uncommon, however, for an artist who is established in one genre of music to switch gears and successfully pursue a completely different style. But that’s what Wilmington, Delaware native IVA (pronounced EE-vuh) is doing, establishing herself as a singer-songwriter on her new EP, 'Leap.'" By Joe Szczechowski


It’s not unusual for musical artists to reinvent themselves to adapt to the ever-changing trends of popular music. A slight shift in style can go a long way in refreshing an artist’s image. It’s quite uncommon, however, for an artist who is established in one genre of music to switch gears and successfully pursue a completely different style. But that’s what Wilmington, Delaware native IVA (pronounced EE-vuh) is doing, establishing herself as a singer-songwriter on her new EP, “Leap.”

Born Emily Tepe, the blond-haired beauty appeared poised for a successful career in classical music at an early age. “I was exposed to classical music and opera when I was very young,” she said in a recent telephone interview. “My dad has a great eclectic record collection and every Saturday morning he would pull out different records and play them while we had breakfast.”

Although her father’s selections included everything from opera to pop, IVA’s young voice seemed well-suited to classical music, so that is what she gravitated toward. Although she didn’t start taking classical voice lessons until she was 14, she performed with Opera Delaware at age nine.

“I had a strong classical sounding voice,” she says, “and I was encouraged by my grandparents, who were classical musicians, so I worked with what was already there. Everything around me at the time, both at school and at home, was more geared toward formal classical music. I didn’t realize until later that I had this other voice that I could use.

“It just hadn’t crossed my mind to do popular music. Popular music was something that was always there, whereas classical involved more training and a dedication. I am dedicated person, so it made sense to me that of course I would train heavily to be able to sing this incredible music.”

IVA graduated from Wilmington’s Tower Hill School and Princeton. She moved to New York to study at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music. She continued to perform classical music, but also found herself being asked to perform in more popular music settings. Her interest in pop music was further sparked when her friend, violinist Joshua Bell, introduced her to a producer of ambient electronic music whom he knew from Sony Classical.

“The producer invited me over to sing some classical music,” IVA says. “While I was there, I just randomly started singing some kind of popular tune for fun. He said, ‘Whoa, wait a second, what’s that voice?’ I said, ‘That’s just my normal, singing-around-the-house voice.’ And he said, ‘I’m interested in that voice. That voice sounds really cool.’”

Shortly thereafter, IVA began working on her first album with that same producer. In 2004, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and moved to the land of her ancestry – Stockholm, Sweden – to study Scandinavian classical music.

“The same year that I moved to Sweden, the producer I was working with on my album moved to France,” IVA says. “So I would fly down to the South of France and we would work on the album, and then I would fly back to Stockholm and do all my classical work.”

As she wrote and recorded her debut album, she realized that she wanted her own work to stand apart from her classical career. It was then that she adopted her pop persona IVA.

“I felt like I had something that I really wanted to say with music, and I needed to write it myself,” she says. “IVA was the person that I wanted to be through my music. She represents everybody being exactly who they want to be, and it’s meant to be an inspiration for people to be who they want to be.”

IVA worked to fully develop her “pop voice” and further distinguish it from her classical voice.

“I really don’t like rules and convention,” she says. “I’m sure there are many that have a grip on me, but they’ve always bothered me. So I think breaking out of the formality of the classical approach was liberating. I have worked on that voice for a while – I’ve done a good job of roughing myself up over the years – but even when I first started using it, it didn’t sound classical. It sounded like a pop voice, but it wasn’t the pop voice that you hear today.”

Her self-titled debut album “IVA” was released on the French-New York label Vurse in 2006. Three years later, she released her second album, “Ivolution.” Recorded in Stockholm and released independently, “Ivolution” was well-received by the Swedish and international press. It was picked up for distribution by Universal Records and IVA was profiled by Billboard Magazine in a “Global Pulse” column as an artist to watch.

Iva spent a total of six years in Sweden. Before returning to the States in 2010, she started working on the material that would become her new album, “Leap.”

“For my first two albums I wrote with other songwriters and producers,” she says. “With this one I thought, ‘I wonder what would happen if I write most of it on my own, put together my own band, and look for my own sound?’ The album is called ‘Leap’ because it’s a leap of faith for me.”

After arriving back in the States, IVA set out to find musicians who would help her realize her new sound.

“I wanted each song to exist first before there was any arrangement of it,” she says. “With the first two albums, there was an arrangement that was already in place as the song was being written. I wanted these songs to just live and breathe on their own, and then add musicians and see what they sounded like.”

IVA started working with bassist Sam Nobles. Another large piece of the puzzle came together when she found Milkboy Studio producer and engineer Tim Sonnefeld, known for his work with artists ranging from Usher to Amos Lee to the Dixie Hummingbirds. Sonnefeld would eventually produce, mix and play guitar on “Leap.”

“I asked around for who might be a good producer for the type of material and sound that I was looking for,” IVA says. “Tim was recommended to me, so I went over to Milkboy Studio in Philadelphia and I played my songs for him on the piano. He really liked them. Anyone who wants to make an album should work with Tim because he is so positive and uplifting. He has a great ear and he goes the extra mile all the time. We immediately had a good rapport and went right to work.”

Sonnefeld brought in drummer Matt Scarano. When guitarist and pianist Nate Gonzalez came on board, IVA had found her band. “We played the songs live over a couple of years, so we had a chance to live with them and get used to what worked when it came time to arrange the songs,” she says. “It also gave us a chance to see which songs people liked the most. I also went through a bunch of the songs with Tim. That’s how we decided which ones would be the best for this album.”

The independently released “Leap” was fan-funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign. It features five songs of well-written adult contemporary pop, led by the first single, “All That We Are.” Other highlights include the bright and buoyant “Future Love” and the dark yet compelling “Just Enough.” The album is available on a variety of outlets, including iTunes and Amazon, as well as through IVA’s website – IVAVoice.com.

Since the EP’s release in July, IVA has been busy securing airplay on radio stations across the country. A video is in the works for either “All That We Are” or “Just Enough.” Concert dates are also being scheduled, including a performance at Wilmington’s World Café Live at the Queen on Sept. 10, and an Oct. 10 appearance at Melodies Café in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

“This is my third recording and I know this is how the process is meant to be,” IVA says. “I look forward to playing these and other songs from my first two records with this amazing band of musical brothers.”

As if all that wasn’t enough to keep IVA busy, in July she made another trip to Sweden – this time to receive the honor of being named “Arets Svensk Amerikan 2015” (Swedish-American of the Year 2015). The annual award has been presented by the Vasa Order of America since 1960. Recipients, either Swedish or American by birth, have been chosen because they have made significant contributions to the relationship between the two countries. Past honorees have included astronaut Buzz Aldrin and actress Ann-Margret.

“It’s been a great privilege to live in both countries,” IVA says. “I’m happy to know that it’s made a difference for our cultural exchange.” - Examiner

The Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C., threw quite a stamp party Sept. 9 for Sweden's most glamorous export — actress Ingrid Bergman.

“Who would turn down having their mother on a stamp?” asked Bergman’s daughter, Pia Lindstrom.

In fact, she told an audience of about 250 who arrived at a special ceremony arranged by the U.S. Postal Service and the Swedish Embassy, she believed her mother would be delighted that the American government had issued a stamp in her honor.

“It is like a stamp of approval,” Lindstrom said.

And her mother was once denounced in the U.S. Senate at the height of her career, Lindstrom noted.

That denouncement, according to the actress’s website, came from Sen. Edwin C. Johnson, D-Colo., who called her “a powerful influence for evil.”

It was part of the strong reaction many Americans had to Bergman’s affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini, which began in 1949.

The U.S. Ingrid Bergman forever stamp was first issued in Los Angeles Aug. 20 without a first-day ceremony.

To make up for that omission, the Postal Service worked with the Swedish Embassy in Washington, which was celebrating what would have been the actress’s 100th birthday with two exhibitions celebrating her life.

The special stamp ceremony came complete with the traditional singing of the national anthems for the United States and Sweden, the unveiling of the U.S. stamp, and a special postmark for a “Bergman Station” and the Legends of Hollywood stamp series, which Bergman joined as the 19th actor to be honored.

Sweden honored Bergman with stamps as well, which were on sale from USPS personnel at the ceremony.

Lindstrom, Bergman’s oldest child, recalled her mother encountered much sadness in her life.

“She was happiest when she was pretending — acting,” she said.

Bergman recalled how quickly her mother went from being “a little girl in Sweden” to becoming an international movie star.

James Cochrane, acting marketing and sales officer for the Postal Service, noted that Bergman once said: “I didn’t choose acting. Acting chose me.”

Britt-Inger Hahne, managing director of PostNord Stamps, said the Sweden and U.S. designs honoring the “most beautiful woman” made it “hard to fail” to produce attractive stamps.

Sweden’s Ambassador to the United States Bjorn Lyrvall said Bergman was “one of the greatest film stars of all time.”

That is not hyperbole, he added. That was what the American Film Institute said of her work.

The evening’s stamp event ended with a black-tie dance featuring music of the 1940s in a ballroom decorated with movie posters of Bergman’s greatest box-office hits. - Linns.com

More than 50 Musicians Join forces at the Queen to raise money for the Shine a Light on the Queen foundation to benefit the World Cafe Live at the Queen. - Out and About

By David W. Wannop
21st Century Media News Service

Iva brings her unique sound to Melodies Cafe. Photo by JIM GRAHAM.

IVA is a singer-songwriter from a different frame of reference who has returned to the area after quite a bit of time away.

She reports, “I was music major at Princeton for my undergraduate degree and Juilliard. Also the Manhattan School of Music. I had a Fulbright scholarship to Sweden and stayed for six years. I did classical there, but I was already working with a producer from New York and he moved to France and we finished the album there.”

Indeed, her early recordings were targeted toward the dance market of Europe and her live performances were with the Royal Opera of Sweden. This is quite a range, but now she is discovering her own original music, which will be the sole focus at her Melodies Café show on March 1.

IVA was compared to Enya mixed with Madonna in her European phase, but now seems to be more in the zone of early ’70s songwriters. Still she draws some lessons from her earlier incarnations, especially opera.

She recounts, “I was in opera when I was 9 but I didn’t do formal training until later. There were a lot of people involved, including parents, grandparents and a woman who ran the children’s Opera of Delaware. I grew up in Wilmington.

“A lot of the breathing is similar and some basic techniques are the same, but they are very different. In opera, you are following an aesthetic that is already in place. In opera, you have this prescribed way, but in my other music you are constantly reinventing yourself and digging deeper, trying to find out who you are.”

IVA often played the ingénue roles, which, one can imagine, can get old after a while. Financial situations after the 2008 market crashed canceled some performances and precipitated a return to Delaware.

She compares opera and original music further by explaining, “I kind of tap into more general emotions when doing opera, whereas in my own songs I go to a place that is more specific. For example, I have a song called ‘Just Enough’ about how people play relationship games, keeping the other person at bay to see if they are still interested. In opera, that wouldn’t go. Someone is living or dying or loving them or hating them. My music has more of an attitude as much as emotion. More personal,” she states.

Her involvement with song takes some interesting turns.

She relates, “When I rehearse, I may even put pictures up so that I remember what I was feeling when I wrote the song. Even if the relationship was a few years ago, I need to go back to how I felt at the time.”

Using Philadelphia’s MilkBoy Studio, IVA has come forth with a more direct sound and process, whereas before she used producers and writing teams. Since returning to the U.S., IVA has rekindled a relationship she left some years before, has moved to a farm and enjoys being outside with nature. She’s also been revisiting early musical influences.

She says, “My first major influence was the Beatles. I just couldn’t stop listening to them. Then in high school I started listening to Ella Fitzgerald and other jazz things. I like Paula Cole and Joni Mitchell, whom I wish I could write like.”

IVA finds herself becoming more creative when around other creative people.

She notes, “I record any idea or hook into my phone. I also write constantly. Once at a Rufus Wainwright show, I started writing lyrics all over my program. I also get ideas when I am half asleep. I keep the phone and paper nearby when that happens.”

Always more of a singer and dramatist, IVA has finally gotten a chance to play piano too.

She offers, “I started piano lessons when I was 10, but I used to be too nervous to play in front of an audience. But as I play more acoustic gigs and solo shows, I find it only makes sense for me to play the piano. I need to be centered and focused backstage. I need to concentrate. After the show, I interact with the audience.” - Montgomery News

Local singer-songwriter Emily Tepe, known by her stage name IVA, was clas­si­cally trained at Juilliard School and The Manhattan School of Music. But she found her true musical iden­tity when she went to Stockholm, Sweden, in 2004 on a Fulbright Scholarship to study Scandinavian clas­sical music.

Much of her studies had involved opera, but during six years in Sweden she explored how leapclas­sical music could be mixed with more pop­ular genres. This change per­vades her third album, LEAP, set for release April 30.

Although recorded in the U.S., the album cap­tures the sense of lib­er­a­tion Tepe felt during her time out of the country. For her, living abroad meant being who­ever she wanted to be, unbound by con­text or a past. That sparked a turning point.

“I started really thinking, ‘What do I want?’ What is impor­tant?’” she says. “And music just started coming out.”

Tepe returned to the U. S. in 2010 with a solid­i­fied sound. She spent the next few years putting together a band that would be an ideal fit for an album. She even­tu­ally found her cur­rent band­mates: gui­tarist Tim Sonnefeld, the album’s pro­ducer; Nate Gonzalez on piano and guitar; Sam Nobles on bass, and Matt Scarano on drums. The album com­prises songs Tepe wrote abroad and on the East Coast.

“I’m most happy with this album for coming together com­pletely and organ­i­cally,” she says.

LEAP was fully funded by a Kickstarter, which was a sur­prise for the artist. She didn’t expect such a pos­i­tive response from fans, saying that the show of sup­port is “a really good feeling.”

An offi­cial album-release show for LEAP will take place on Thursday, April 30, at World Café Live in Philadelphia. Tepe’s vocal stu­dent, Michelle Ley and Philly artist Sharon Little will open the show. Tepe will also per­form newer songs that aren’t on the album. - Out and About

“As a crooner who blends classical with pop and jazz, she is IVA...Many opera singers attempt pop, but their training prevents them from relaxing enough to slide into the genre’s informality and soulfulness.”
by Maria Hess

She’s blonde. She’s Swedish. The camera loves her.

But before you write off Emily Samson Tepe as just another long drink of water, hear her sing at OperaDelaware’s Ball at the Hotel du Pont February 12.

Samson Tepe has two personalities and two careers. As an opera singer, the Wilmington native is known as Emily Samson Tepe. As a crooner who blends classical with pop and jazz, she is Iva. Iva will grace the Gold Ballroom this month, though Samson Tepe may show up for an aria or two.

“It’s a cool crossover kind of thing,” says Samson Tepe. “OperaDelaware is interested because I have the European and pop crossover experience. As they say, not everyone who’s an opera singer can also do crossover pop stuff.”

Many opera singers attempt pop, but their training prevents them from relaxing enough to slide into the genre’s informality and soulfulness. Samson Tepe was classically trained at the Manhattan School of Music, so “the pop singer in me has taken years to develop,” she says.

Samson Tepe got her break in 2001, when a casting director from “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” invited her to sing in a skit. Drummer Max Weinberg asked her back for several performances. Then Samson Tepe snagged an invitation to a Conan Christmas shindig. Her date, violinist Joshua Bell, introduced her to a producer from Sony Classical Records. That collaboration resulted in Iva’s eponymous first album.

Samson Tepe traveled to her ancestral Sweden on a Fulbright Scholarship to study Scandinavian vocal music in 2004. There she released her second album, “Ivolution.”

Iva’s OperaDelaware appearance will mimic a cabaret-style show at Maxim’s de Paris. That’s intentional, since a ball attendee will win a trip for two to Paris. The prize includes airfare, hotel accommodations, dinner at Maxim’s and tickets to the Paris Opera.

In April Iva will headline the grand opening of the newly restored Queen Theatre in Wilmington. “I know the downtown is making a comeback,” she says, “and I hope the Queen will get people downtown on a regular basis.” - Delaware Today

“4 stars” - Café (Sweden)

"I have seen a rising star – remember where you read it first!"

Annika Sundbaum Melin - Expressen (Sweden)

“A little jewel is this album that will please fans of pop/ rock with electronic elements, and this is the best pop/rock album I've heard in many years from a lady with a fantastic voice!”
Arne Asbolmo - Melodic Hard Rock Today

“It is a rarity to find someone who is willing to dive into the world of pop music when their background is so strongly grounded in opera, but that's why this album works as well as it does.”
Jonathan Ostrow - Mic Control Blog

"Opera Singer Turned Rock Goddess"
by Tony Mallett - Up Front (Brussels)

"A crystal-clear, beautiful symphony"
by Liselotte Rönnholm - Hälsa magazine (Sweden)

"A true singer in the making"
by Roland Petterson - DalaDemokraten (Sweden)

"The absolute brightest shining star of the evening" by Charlotte Forsberg - SmålandsPosten (Sweden)

With her own unique sound and a voice that makes one think of Enya, the singer IVA will be one of this year’s biggest Swedish names. - Finest.se (Sweden)

Organic fashion photo shoot and description of IVA's work as an activist for the environment - Leva (Sweden)

TBD - Ljuvalivet (Sweden)